Nigerians are hoping vote will go ahead following delay over unspecified ‘challenges’

Nigerians are preparing to go to the polls again, hoping the presidential election will go ahead on Saturday morning after last weekend’s 11th-hour postponement.

The incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari, and his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, resumed campaigning this week after the announcement by the independent national electoral commission (INEC) at 3am last Saturday, five hours before polling stations were due to open, that the vote was being pushed back.

The vote was rescheduled just five hours before polls were to open

Nigeria’s president and his main challenger have blamed each other for the last-minute postponement of the country’s election, delayed just five hours before polls were due to open.

Millions of Nigerians who had planned to vote woke up to the news on Saturday that the independent electoral commission (INEC) had deemed holding the poll “no longer feasible”. It will now be held on 23 February, INEC said.

Nigeria’s 84 million voters will go to the polls next weekend to give their verdict on Muhammadu Buhari. The country is Africa’s most populous, and by some measures has the largest economy on the continent. Nigeria celebrated Mr Buhari’s election in 2015 as not only a resounding rejection of the unpopular Goodluck Jonathan but also the first democratic transition since the return of civilian rule in 1999.

Unfortunately, the highlight of Mr Buhari’s presidency appears to have been the gaining of it. The economy struggles, and his pledges to curb rampant corruption have been applied to political opponents. Insecurity remains a pressing issue: notably, Boko Haram appears to be resurging despite the government’s repeated assurances that it has beaten the extremist group, and a spreading herder-farmer conflict has killed thousands. The president’s extended absence overseas, for medical treatment, prompted such persistent rumours of his death and replacement by a body double that he felt obliged to tell voters: “It’s the real me, I assure you.”